Tori made me feel alive, like the withered part of my soul was coming back to life.
Her forehead creased as she studied me. “Where do you go?” she asked.
I could be myself with her, the person I’d once been before my father’s hand had hardened me and my mother’s death had carved out my heart.
I leaned back next to her, staring at the television. “I get in my head sometimes,” I admitted.
Quiet eclipsed us for a few moments before she said, “I know there are things that you have yet to tell me. And we’re still new, so I get that. But if you ever want to talk about it, I’ll be here.”
I turned my head, seeing the sincerity in her bright eyes. Taking her hand, I rubbed my thumb over her fingers. “Tell me more about your family,” I said, needing to hear about a normal family.
I kept my sight on her hand but sensed her eyes on me, like she was trying to figure out why I had changed the subject. There were things I couldn’t tell her. Not yet. Not until I could determine the best way to move forward with my mission and keep her. An inkling that I would lose her in the process, lose her trust by not admitting the truth, snuck into my mind. I couldn’t ignore it because I was risking everything by falling for her, and I risked losing her by not telling her about my intentions in the next five years or the things I’d been building since I was sixteen.
“There’s not much more to tell. It’s just my parents, me, and my brother Cash.”
“He’s older, right?”
“Yeah, by six years. I think I was an oops,” she said, humor in her tone.
“A good oops.” I looked back over at her, seeing her smile. It was something I never wanted to lose.
“Cash likes to say I was an annoying addition who stole his toys and irritated him when he was a teenager, but he loves me. Even if he hates telling me.”
“Sounds like a big brother to me.”
“Do you have any siblings?” she asked, resting her head on my shoulder. I brought my arm around her and pulled her to my side, loving how it felt to have her in my embrace.
“I have an older sister. We don’t talk often. She lives in California.” The lies came too easily. I’d been lying since I moved from home, pretending to be someone else. Taking my paternal grandmother’s last name to hide my identity, something that my father had surprisingly approved of for security. Having the heir to the Icinda fortune and next CEO so far from home would be dangerous. Having him work for investment firms to wet his feet before he stepped into the CFO position wouldn’t look good for business. And my father was all about image and pleasing his shareholders.
I disappeared off the radar, leaving my sister to the wolves while I enjoyed a few years of anonymity. It didn’t mean his men hadn’t watched me for the years I’d been away. I hadn’t caught them following me lately, but that didn't mean they weren’t out there, ensuring I stayed protected.
“So, you’re not close?” she asked.
“No, not really.” Another lie because Liv had been my fortress since we were young. The safe place I crawled to when things got bad and my father’s temper had meant cruelty. He’d never hurt her, deciding to take his aggression out on me. To toughen me up, to make me a man. The man I now was. The one who didn’t show himself often around Tori. She was a safe place, just like Liv had always been.
“I’m sorry.” I hated the sadness in her voice because my lie had caused it. “I can’t imagine not having Cash. We talk at least once a week.”
Guilt weighing heavily on me, I gave her a shrug and picked her pizza up. “Eat,” I said, feeding her a bite.
“Are you trying to stop me from asking questions?” she asked between chews.
Giving her a wink, I offered another shrug with a “Maybe.”
Those keen eyes surveyed me, and I wondered if she could see the lies I was building for her. It was a shaky foundation to start us on, and there was a high probability that when the truth came out, she would hate me. Not for what I was planning but for the lies.
“So, your parents own a bed-and-breakfast?”
Blue orbs narrowed before she released a sigh. It was still early enough in our relationship to have secrets, but if this continued in the direction I thought it was heading, I’d have to tell her everything. If I could dig myself out from under my mountain of lies. Confess that I was the son of a billionaire business owner who had abused his status as my father until my mother had taken her life. That had been the first day I had stopped his hand from coming down on me. The day I started fighting back. But it was a day too late, and for that, he would lose it all by my hands and Liv’s.
“I may have fibbed a little on that,” Tori said, sitting up and tucking her legs under her.
My attention piqued, I waited for her to explain. Maybe we were both keeping secrets.
“They own a resort in Piedmont. The Haven.”
I gaped at her, the confession like a punch to the gut.
She scratched her arm. “I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal, Gabe.”
